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Terrorism as a Threat and Challenge of Peace and Security in 21st Century

What to expect in the coming years? What is the positions of some countries? Naim Spahiu, Halim Bajraktari and Shefki Shterbani, University of Prizren, explain the present and future of terrorism.



Abstract

Combining the number of increased states, regions and continents which are affected by security challenges followed by terrorism and extremism, I asses that measures which should be undertaken immediately to respond correctly by determine the right future for next generation. Challenges mentioned are funded by certain states and hidden organizations which are desired to sabotage prosperity and globalization of human rights. Using instrument of making a crisis in certain regions/states to achieve a focus point regarding fighting terrorism and extremism just aggravate the situation on managing this crisis. While some states continue to back international terrorism, groups increasingly finance their own activities through a network of charitable and humanitarian organizations, criminal enterprises, front companies, dark commercial deals, illicit and unregulated banking systems, and the personal wealth of individual so called “militant Islamists”. The reason of increasing flames of terrorism globally and particular in our region when some youth people of our society have become a target person to recruit easily them by attraction of ideologies, using their poverty as weakness, and a result of poverty education is the desirable thing. Stages of becoming a target for terrorist organization are: Indoctrination, selection, financing activities (training, travel), victimization. After being diagnosed reasons for terrorism, we face difficult challenges to deal with combination of factors which terrorist organization use to attract people to join them. Undertaken steps taken by main social media to stop spreading extremism is good but not enough. Large number of accounts have been closed, but the goal is to find some causes of terrorism in order to predict and reduce future incidents. There are different forms of terrorism, and each form has its own causes. Terrorism happens in both poor and rich countries, and regardless of the type of government.


Nowadays financing terrorism is a serious issue. How they organize payments, traveling’s? Cash flow of terrorist organization and how it works? We analyze the likely difference between cash flow and transfers, which are taken.

What were the actions of Kosovo government to stop operating in this area? If our society is able to fight such difficult and risky action. There are many examples of successful cases that will fit on best scenarios how to deal with financing terrorism. The final section of the article considers end- game financially and lawfully, and assessing the persons who were part of terrorist organizations and outcome of such complex and uncertain processes.


1. Old and new Terrorism

Terrorism has no date when begun, terrorism has existed since humans have existed on this planet. Forms and groups during the time has emerged and defined depend on evaluations of society. Term of terrorism is new but actions which are common in human history.The word ‘terrorism’ first emerged at the end of the eighteenth century in post-revolutionary France when it was used by the Dictionnaire de l’Académie française to describe ’’a regime of terror’’. Terrorism could be defined as act of groups, individuals and States. Terrorism is a broad field and it can be thought of as the use or threatened use of force against civilians designed to bring about political or social change. (4) .


For the first time word terrorism has been used in 1795 in France to the Reighn of Terror acorded by French governmet against anti government activities. From then every army has choosen “iregular”(5) . The definition of terrorism of LaFree and Ackerman (2009, 348) definedas ‘‘the threatened or actual use of illegal force, directed against civilian targets, by non state actors, in order to attain a political goal, through fear, coercion or intimidation(6) .Terrorism is primarily a political phenomenon. Terrorism is primarily a political phenomenon therefore the political science theories are the focus in this study. Instrumental, organizational and political communication approaches are taken as the principal representatives of political science theories of terrorism. In addition to those, economic and psychological theories of terrorism are evaluated from the other disciplines. The reason to evaluate economics and psychology literature is simple: these are two of the most developed social sciences(7) . A proliferation of legal measures ensued, with broad-reaching political and legal effect, including Security Council resolutions that imposed a wide range of obligations on states to prevent and suppress terrorism. These include ensuring that ‘terrorist acts are established as serious criminal offences in domestic laws and regulations and that the punishment duly reflects the seriousness of such terrorist acts(8).


According to both the Department of Defense (DOD) and the FBI, terrorism is "the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives." The DOD definition adds that a goal of terrorism can be "inculcating fear" (thus the psychological dimension), while the State Department is more elaborate, specifying that terrorism may include the use of biological, chemical or nuclear devices as well as the act of "assassination."Motivs of terrorism are political but also could be criminal. Based on the above it can be concluded that terrorism is a form of violent opposition to the authorities, which is present in modern society, not only against the undemocratic totalitarian rule, it is possible vision subversive activities against any, even a democratic government. In fact, terrorism is one of the most brutal ways to achieve the set goals that often do not correspond o reality is not real life. “Terrorism refutes all moral norms in the wars of choosing and accepting prefer to kill innocent than to find a way to avoid them injury’’ (9) . Terrorism is an anxiety-inspired method of repeated violent action, employed by (semi-)clandestine individuals, groups, or state actors, for idiosyncratic, criminal, religious or political reasons, whereby – in contrast to assassination – the direct targets of violence are not the main targets. The immediate human victims of violence are generally chosen randomly (targets of opportunity) or selectively (representative or symbolic targets) from a target population, and serve as massage generators. Threatand violence-based communication processes between terrorist (organization), (imperilled) victims, and the main targets are used to manipulate the main target (audience(s)), turning it into a target of terror, a target of demands, or a target of attention, depending on whether intimidation, coercion, or propaganda is primarily sought. (10)


The acceptance of the term ‘new terrorism’ will have great influence on the direction and funding of counter-terrorism measures. However, the distinction between old and new terrorism is artificial and some extent dangerous, as it can be used to justify a whole new set of rushed restrictive governmental counter-measures without these being democratically debated, publicly discussed, independently monitored or even necessary(11) . Defining terrorism is the most ambiguous component in terrorism studies, with no universally accepted definition that differentiates attacks against civilian noncombatants or armed military or takes into account the latest trends in terrorist objectives and warfare. In 1983, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) formulated one of the most widely used definitions of terrorism. According to this definition, terrorism is "premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience." [1] As part of this definition, the term "noncombatant" includes civilians and military personnel who are unarmed or not on duty. [2] The term 'international terrorism' refers to terrorism "involving citizens or the territory of more than one country," [3] while the term 'terrorist group' refers to "any group practicing, or that has significant subgroups that practice, international terrorism" (12) .


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Suggested Citation:

SPAHIU, Naim and Bajraktari, Halim and SHTERBANI, Shefki, Terrorism as a Threat and Challenge of Peace and Security in 21st Century (December 1, 2016). Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference ‘Contemporary Concepts of Crisis Management’, 2016. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3307341

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